In-Box Review

Kit contents

The Voyager Modern Machine Gun set for the Meng Merkava Mk 3 is a .50 cal detail set that consists of both resin and PE parts. The parts are laid out pretty simply with the MG base unit, the handles and the MG cover all cast in resin with very good detail. The barrel is a turned brass piece. The rest of the parts are all laid out on a small but complete PE fret.

Review

The whole set come packaged in a rather small blister pack type of box that seems sturdy. Overall I can’t find too much about this set that I do not like right off the bat. If all of Voyagers sets are like this I will be buying more Voyager detail sets in the near future.

The PE fret contains the ammo box and cradle for it. The handle, minus the resin “grips”, the sights and other various minor parts such as attachment points. The instructions are easy to read and just at a glance I feel that I could easily assemble this whole “kit” without any issues, even as a first timer. The sub assemblies are called out in big letters and are then arrowed to where they fit in relation with the rest of the parts. Having never used a Voyager set, I do not know if this is standard, but if it is, wow!
The detail on the resin is crisp and exact with little to no flash apparent. The barrel seems to be well “cast”/formed and again detail is clean. This looks like it even has grooves set for where the placement of the other parts should go, which I like as I hate guess work.

The PE Fret is pretty straight forward with the numbers of parts clearly marked and easy to find. Things seem to be well laid out and logical, left to right, top to bottom increasing numerically. The sights seem to be the most delicate parts on here and care should be taken with them, but everything else seems to be sturdy and easily detachable.

Conclusion

Well cast parts, easy to follow instructions and well laid out PE fret with sturdy packaging, what’s not to like? I will be writing up a build review for this in the coming weeks as I am just too excited about this not to build it up quickly. Having used very few PE detail sets, my knowledge is not vast but I have used some and found those seriously lacking in all of the areas that this one excels. I think that most PE detail sets are of good quality. What sets really great ones like this apart from the others is the attention to detail(s) like the well laid out parts and easy to follow instructions. Kudos to Voyager for not complicating things for us and taking out some of the frustration of PE and detail sets.

SUMMARY

Highs: Well cast resin parts on sturdy “stock”. Minimal to no flash. Crisp detail. Well detailed PE parts and easily identifiable on the fret. Well laid out and easy to follow instructions.Lows: Not coming all assembled so that I don’t have to super glue my fingers together.Verdict: Maybe too specific for some, but for those that are building the MENG Merkava, this is a must. The only down side I can see is the tiny PE parts might be hard to cut out and could be easily lost.Other than that this is a solid offering from Voyager.

Our Thanks to Voyager Model!This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

I have been "building" models, collecting and starting mostly, since I was a kid and really started getting into it in my teens. The Tamiya kits if the 80's were what did it for me. I actually became a tanker in the US Army just to get a chance to study the Abrams up close (and drink German beer). I...